Church San Nicolò, Romanesque church in Padua, Italy

San Nicolò is a church in Padua oriented east-west, surrounded by 13th- and 14th-century buildings. Its facade has Gothic arcading and a rose window; the Forzatè Chapel (1367) projects, linked by an arch to the Gothic bell tower. The interior is asymmetrical, with a fourth nave opening south and a 14th-century vaulted ceiling.

The church was first recorded in 1088 and developed with support from local monks. Major architectural changes took place in the 14th century, significantly transforming the building's appearance.

The church keeps the 1777 altarpiece by Giandomenico Tiepolo, a Sacra Famiglia with Saints Francesca Romana and Eurosia, moved here in 1966. In the Forzatè chapel stands a Renaissance triptych with its original frame, showing Saints Leonard and James around the Virgin and Child, by a Paduan artist linked to Bellini. The 14 Stations of the Cross in enamelled copper were made by Paduan artist Paolo De Poli in 1968.

The church faces the Selciato San Nicolò, on a space used as a burial ground until the Napoleonic era. The building is oriented east-west and hemmed in by 13th- and 14th-century structures, including the Montorsi palace on its left flank. Look for the Forzatè chapel of 1367, joined by an arch to the Gothic bell tower, and the Lombard portal of the later 15th century beneath it, carved with Saint Nicholas, the Eternal Father and the Annunciation.

The church keeps a Mascioni pipe organ, opus 557, built in 1941 to replace a 19th-century Pugina instrument; in 1997 it was moved to its present spot on a bracket of the counter-facade. It has two 58-note keyboards and a 30-note concave-radial pedalboard, with a mobile console in the left side aisle.